Clubhouse backs mental health report urging more self-help

A mental health support group say any reform of Australia's mental health system needs to move away from relying on clinical treatments.

A new report from Reachout youth group says it would take $9 billion and nearly 9,000 extra professionals to meet the current demand for services.

It wants authorities to take a different approach that emphasises self-help and focuses on the young.

Toowoomba Clubhouse director Luke Terry says using online and peer support services would make mental health care more accessible.

"You might see a psychiatrist or psychologist for a couple of sessions a week and you might use all these other resources side by side with that," he said.

"So what often happens at the moment is there's a greater reliance on using these expensive resources all of the time and that will will continue to swallow up our mental health resources."

He says there is too much focus on clinical treatment for people with mental illness.

"The way that we can do that is looking at a whole of sector approach. So what can we do around employment, what can we do around housing, what can we do around things outside the hospital," he said.

"What this report highlights is the focus seems to be that we need to spend more on hospital services but there's lots of things we can do out in the community with things like Lifeline, the Clubhouse, that sort of thing."